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Sunday, March 25, 2012

“If you build something in the country, you feel that this country is yours. We have to build a strong society from the inside...

(Samuel Sockol/WASHINGTON POST) - A 22-year-old university student, Hurriya Ziada is active in protests against Israeli occupation in the West Bank.

"One of the most useful lessons learned, Ziada noted, was that participation can be enlisted by focusing on pressing social and economic problems that affect people’s daily lives.

In the West Bank, Ziada and others have led street-cleaning projects, helped build mud houses for people whose homes were razed by the Israelis and run activities for children in areas plagued by violence. The community work, Ziada said, was meant to encourage a sense of civic involvement and break patterns of passivity and resignation.

“When you clean a street, you feel related to the street because you cleaned it yourself,” she said. “If you build something in the country, you feel that this country is yours. We have to build a strong society from the inside, and that will help us move to the next step.”"